Third baseman Travis Shaw slugged the first two home runs of his major league career and had four RBIs as the Boston Red Sox overcame another shaky start from Joe Kelly in an 11-7 win over the Tampa...

Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords holds a press conference at the Millyard Museum in Manchester on Friday afternoon. She and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly are making a swing through New Hampshire to promote their Americans for Responsible Solutions organization. (Bruce Preston / Union Leader)

Kelly, a retired astronaut, said he and his wife had hoped to meet in New Hampshire with U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H, who opposed a background-checks bill this spring, "but this is a complicated time of year for everybody, the Fourth of July."

Kelly said he talked with Ayotte, a key vote in defeating the measure, about a week ago. "It's a private conversation, but it was a good conversation about where we were going and what we were doing," he said at a news conference with law enforcement officials at the Millyard Museum in the Queen City.

Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman shot in the head in Tucson in a 2011, said people "must never stop fighting" to get guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

A handful of people, some with their firearms, protested outside and urged Giffords to go home.

Sen. Ayotte's spokesman Jeff Grappone did not have an immediate comment on Friday afternoon.